I'd like to take a moment to plug Yen Plus! from Yen Press, the same folks who bring you Alice on Deadlines.

In Japan, there are magazines... weekly, monthly... that people pick up in the train stations to read on their train rides or on their lunch breaks, or whatever. Many popular manga started by being serialized in these magazines, only to later be collected into the single-title sets most of us in America are familiar with.

Yen Plus is an American version of those magazines. There are several stories being serialized in it at the moment. In Japan, the market is so vibrant and wide that magazines can specialize in what kind of stories they carry... so-called young men's manga, and girl's manga, and so on. Yen Plus is more wide-spread, and I'll confess that there's at least one story line currently that I just skip over without reading. But the whole thing is fantastic, and I'm glad to finally have a manga anthology here in the US!

Pick one up! If you like it, subscribe! Let's support American manga!

I've recently (four months) started picking up YenPlus and I really love it. I'll admit, the reason I picked it up in the first place was just so that I could read Maximum Ride, but I've come to like, if not enjoy, all of the stories in the magazine. Some are more my style than others, but the magazine gives me a reason to read things that I wouldn't normally. Plus it gives me a break from all the sappy shojo stories I read in ShojoBeat. I also like that it's a mix of American, Korean, and Japanese comics. I really like the variety.

I really should subscribe to it...

Originally Posted by Sho-Shonojo

I really should subscribe to it...

Yes, you should. :cool:

My Aunt bought me a subscription for my birthday; I've been reading it since issue one. My favorite story line is the "Bamboo Blade," in part 'cause it's largely about girls playing Kendo, but also because it's just well told, and the art rocks. I'm also quite taken with the "night school" story line, and this last issue left a big ol' cliff-hanger!

I should have asked for a subscription for Christmas.

My favorite is Maximum Ride, because I love seeing how different authors tell the same story. I don't really have another favorite, I like all of them.

I really liked the preview for Black God, I was hoping that one would continue in the magazine. I mean, this guy gets his arm torn off and they drop it there. D:

Yeah, I anticipate that, being an arm of Yen Press, from time to time we'll get things like that, which are essentially big advertisements for something they're bringing out. But that's okay... they have some cool titles. Have you checked out Alice on Deadlines? It's cute, and silly.

No, I haven't. I haven't read much outside of the stories included in the magazine, and Forest of Gray City, which was switched to Yen Press in the second volume.

What's that one about?

Alice on Deadlines is about a death god (like a grim reaper, sort of) who gets sent to Earth to chase after undead. He's been naughty, so instead of a proper body, he's going to be punished by being put in a skeleton. Only there's a mix up, and he gets the body of a young Catholic schoolgirl (Alice) who's visiting the cemetery, and Alice gets stuck in the skeleton body!

Like I said, it's pretty silly, but it's also fun.

It does sound very fun. I'll have to look for it next time I'm at the bookstore. :)

This past month I found a Yen Plus, and bought it.

Mainly just to preview the manga it had to offer me. I found myself only really liking two manga; Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni and Soul Eater.

Since I had already previously read Higurashi no Naku Koro Ni...the only real new thing the tokoban had to offer was Soul Eater... And, I don't want to pay 8$ monthly for something that will be released in America in Oct.09.

So, ya I tried Yen...and I'll stick to Shonen Jump. It was a good concept and a good start for American Manga though.

I like Yen Plus but I can't afford to subscribe. =) I'm a cheapstake. xD

I picked up this months issue and I can't wait to read it.

It's just killing me that this month's issue is in my mail box... in the town where I go to college, four hours worth of driving from here! Aieeee!

I have to wait until school rolls around and I can run by the bookstore to pick it up. I hate that bookstores are always so late in having them available.

I just found out about this a few months ago, Yen Plus is a monthly magazine from Yen Press. It's like the Shojo and Shonen magazines but even better with new mangas never seen in the US yet for example Soul Eater(a very popular series now here in the US and in Japan also it's coming out in manga form of Oct. of this year)
So when have a chance pick up a copy and see what you think.

i picked up an issue at my bookstore and when i saw maximum ride i screamed. i love that book series (the first two books, anyways) and the manga took my breath away. i also like the one about the pig bride...what was it called?? but every single issue since has plastic wrap on it so i can't read it in the store. i'm not payin' $8 a month for something that doesn't let me know what's inside it D:

So... Yen Plus has gone digital.

While I'm going to miss the paper magazine, I don't mind only having to pay three dollars as apposed to eight.

How do the other Yen Plus readers feel about this change?

I'm hoping that a certain deceased manga magazine will steal this idea and be reborn online :cough:Shojobeat:cough:

I used to read Yen Plus but after a while I forgot to buy it every month so I am way behind and there is only one store in my town that carries it. I love Bamboo Blade and if you can, watch the anime. It's even better. I didn't know Alice on Deadlines was made by them! I have two volumes of it. Been meaning to get more but that same store isn't carrying anymore. My town lacks culture..

I don't know how you feel about manga online Faay, but Yen Plus has gone completely digital as of last month. You can now read each issue online for three dollars. It looks like there will be a lot of new stuff in there so I'm excited.